my job is to introduce steven heydemann. steve is the senior adviser for middle east initiative. he taught at colombia. he is published and directed if the senator for democracy and civil society at georgetown university. steve is terrific asset to the institute. the project is one that it driven by syrians. with assistance technical assistance and other kinds of assistance from the institute in a sister constitution in germany. it's very important that these kinds of efforts be driven by local populations. things that are handed down from the united states typical don't work all that well. and so we are very pleased that you're all here. i hope you have lots of questions. and steve, if i can turn this over to you. >> thank you very much. thank you very much for opening us this morning. and let me add my welcome to jim's we're delighted to see you here this morning. it's going to be a very, very interesting conversation about syria after assad and the challenges of managing a post assad transition. as jim mentioned, this event this morning is in many ways the cull min nation of a